Ancient History - Part 54: Egypt's Last Stand

Even whilst confusing the growing hostile activity throughout the neighboring Phoenician region as guesswork between Minoan, Philistine, Semitic, or a new tribesfolk, the Empire of the Nile would not sit quietly. The rise of piracy instituted a culture of mercenary versus pirate with Egypt maintaining these independent units via payment of her own treasury, which led to frequent deadly confrontations.

Despite the growing tensions brought by the great movements of people during the 15th century, the Egyptian pharaohs did not place blame for these incursions upon a single nation. Thutmose IV warmly regarded Crete and any gifts from the West as tribute, interpreting such gestures as being honored for his own prestige. He kept his forces away from Crete's shores even as the Minoans opened trade with the Phoenicians, particularly the princes of Syria.

Amenhotep III also chose not to escalate military engagement with the Sea Peoples but, unlike his predecessor, made attempts to properly identify the indistinguishable cultures, to middling results. Customs, culture-wear, language, and racial characteristics were still commonly confused amongst the maritime foreigners flooding into the region.

It wasn't for roughly two hundred more years (1194 BC) that the first Egyptian pharaoh (Ramses III) directly engaged these sea-tribes. In a series of violent clashes, the Egyptian military fought against free Vikings, rival Aegeans, and other freefolk amongst the Phoenician states. Mainly the fight for control of the Mediterranean coasts was of a prime interest to the Egyptian king, and at the height of this war led to Ramses' massively successful defeat of the Sea Peoples' migrant army deep within the Serbonian Bog.

On the side of Egypt was their lone ally the Tursha and the opposing side, the barbarian hordes encompassing bits and pieces of all the mixed cultures who represented a culmination of Egypt's centuries-long disdain. With this migrant army thoroughly destroyed on the Nile's marshland, Egypt stated her objective to defend her borders, along with the nearby coasts of the Near East, though this strong posture would ultimately arrive too late.

Mass migration is always tough. It is an issue met with resistance whether the host nation's leader tasked with dealing with it intends to act or not act. But the reality is that there is only a short window of opportunity, early on, that requires hardline action before things get too hot. This is primarily due to it being a far easier task in defending borders against foreign invaders than to later expel countless semi-assimilated migrants from within, after the fact, when the possibilities for damaging scenarios to the host country or kingdom are limitless.

[RAMSES III - Defender of the realm]

Ancient History - Part 52: New Players In Town

Upon the collapse of the Hittite Empire, the former lands of her domain fell into the hands of the local princes and lords of the Levant region, most notably in the case of the Philistines, who up to that point began to settle in Palestine. The necessary documentation required for this era of recorded history for the events that followed relies largely upon Egyptian reports dating back to 1190 BC.

In addition to the Philistines, the Aegeans, or the Kleftians, as the Egyptians preferred to name the Mediterranean seafaring peoples, began to enter Asia Minor and colonize upon Cyprus and other uncontested coastal shores along Anatolia, Syria, and Lebanon. However contrary to ancient Egyptian presumptions, these were more than merely tribes migrating from what we know as modern day Greece, but tribes also originating from Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, and the rest of modern day Italy. Egypt lumped the "People of the Sea" as Greek in origin, but latter-day historians of the age of Great Britain have since matched the names of several deceased as varying all throughout the Mediterranean.

Egypt was firmly placed into the uncomfortable position of seeing foreigners pushing into the lands she once occupied, yet powerless to oppose the rapid changing of the times. New cultures would dominate and carve out boundaries to establish strong heterogenous states, while the empires of old, would follow into the footsteps of Hatta on the long downhill road towards decay.

Egypt's pharaoh, Ramses III thusly felt obligated to act against these new players in town, but the Philistines eagerly awaited this pending challenge, and his army was met and repulsed by a stalwart force of Philistine defenders. Upon defeating the once-great Egyptian power, the new migration seamlessly integrated vast swaths of territory, pathing the way for other tribes to follow. For the first time in centuries, the Semitic peoples were permitted to establish their own leadership to rule themselves, this valiant stand put on full display as a warning for any future would-be conquerors. 

The Achilles' heel to every empire is a loss on the battlefield to a lesser enemy for all to witness. One could argue that with the defeat of Egypt, the Philistines did not merely claim their independence, but signaled the end of Egyptian polity of the Near East, created by Thutmose centuries earlier, once and for all. 

[THE PHILISTINES as depicted by Egypt]

Ancient History - Part 50: The Fall Of Hatta

By the middle of the 13th century BC, warm relations grew to see Hatta become the chief supplier of iron to Egypt, this resource soon to rapidly spread throughout Asia Minor by the time Hattushil II passed. Two decades later, the venerable Ramses II followed. Hattushil's son, Dudkhalia II, named after the original Dudkhalia, the Great Uniter of the Hattic peoples, inherited the throne. Sadly, much historic record is missing, that which might have covered both his reign, and the life of his son, prince Arandas.

One thing that we know for certain about these lost years is that Carchemish and Aleppo, who historians theorize the Hittites lost control of, were firmly back in the possession of the Hattic empire, if they were ever lost to begin with. Carchemish was a focal city and absorbed into the greater part of Hattusa's capital, whereas Aleppo remained within Hatta's sphere of influence, its prince a loyal subject to his king.

During Ramses III's time, there is record that accounts for a great horde who conquered and ended Hattusa, with Dudkhalia possibly being the last ruling king, though internet sources, i.e. Wikipedia, dispute this and list Shubbiluliuma II as the Hittites' final monarch. Some suggest that both kings were one and the same. But as to the ultimate fate of the Hittites, the fact remains that Ancient Egyptian sources cite a wave of devastation in this unnamed horde who engulfed the entirety of the Cilician Plain, including Carchemish, Alashiya, and Arwad, and the Hittite people and their empire with it.

It has been covered previously that Assyria defeated both the Hittites followed by Babylonia, when the latter failed to arrive to her ally's aid. This call-to-arms, or rather, lack thereof, resulted in Assyria shattering the military of Hatta, leaving her indefensible to the savage hordes of the upper northern plains of Cappadocia, and later, Assyria's rule and total conquest of Babylonia.

Egypt opted not to aid nor abet, acting merely as a witness to the fall of her once enemy turned ally. The once great Empire of the Nile's full attention was heavily weighed by the rapid decline from within her own borders as internal decay began to rot down to the core. One positive for future nations that would spawn from this era of the collapsing dynasties is an emphasis placed upon the importance of border-security, in the forms of mitigation of the great migrations of people, as well as protection against organized foreign attack.

[DUDKHALIA II - The forgotten king]